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Small-Town Café Communication Plan
Prepared by:
Spencer Bjorklund
Project submitted in partial fulfillment of the
requirements for the Master of Professional
Communication program at
Weber State University
April 22, 2014
Small-Town Café Communication Business Plan
MPC Final Project: 2013-2014
This project is a communication business plan for a startup cafe in the small town of
Mountain Green, Utah. The name of the cafe is Aspen Grill and the reason for Mountain Green
to be the host site of the café is because it nestled in a small town 15 minutes from a ski resort
and recreational reservoir as well as 10 minutes up Weber Canyon from one of the largest cities
in Utah; Ogden. Mountain Green currently offers no dining options besides gas-station food and
it is the gateway for a large number of locals and tourists to access Snowbasin Resort.
The unique communication situation is that there is currently no sit-down dining option
in Mountain Green. The goal was to assess through research and data the probability that a café
could thrive in this community. A brand and communication marketing plan was also designed.
The main communication questions this project addresses are:
 What type of communication is needed to determine the café’s potential?
 How do I communicate to customers through visual and electronic channels what this
café can become?
The food industry is saturated and according to a research study, nearly 60 percent of all
restaurants fail within three years – fail means in this article that the restaurant closed or was
purchased by new ownership. The author of this article also noted that although the 60 percent
sounds high, it is on par with cross-industry averages for new business. (Miller, 2007,
businessweek.com)
Mountain Green is unique because it doesn’t have another option for locals to dine. There
is no true competition for a sit-down dining experience. How would I brand the Aspen Grill with
potential customers and keep them returning?
This project consisted of two elements for a business plan of starting a small-town café.
The first element is audience research and data analysis. The second element is the creation of
the café brand, look, and feel. There are many important communication aspects to these two
elements, allowing a better understanding of whom and how to communicate a successful small-town
café scenario.
Following are two elements that helped me communicate my purpose and answer the
questions stated at the beginning. The first element was research and data analysis for customer
preferences and the second element was designing a logo, creating a brand, and an online
presence.
Element 1: Research
I decided to research three different audience segments. One segment involved the local
community and in theory, the most stable of customers. The next segment included tourists and
customers who see the café as a dining destination and are willing to make an effort to eat there.
The last segment was research of the tourists and recreation enthusiasts who utilize Snowbasin
Resort. This group will shed light on the mindset of those who spend the day recreating close to
the café’s potential location.
The local community is the heart of the business. I hope to gain a loyal following of
routine diners from local neighborhoods who love the food and will frequent the café. This group
includes those families who live close to the café – within a 10-mile radius. Mountain Green has
no dining options currently and the radius I’ve chosen to research lies within this town’s borders.
I did not count the cities that are located more than a 10-minute drive from Mountain Green.
A focus group was conducted with 10 local community neighbors ranging from 15 to 43
years old. Focus group protocol was established with ground rules, having them fill out a short
survey, and gathering demographic information. An ice-breaker was held to get to know
everyone and questions were open-ended and non-leading to gauge response and feelings from
this group. The focus group activity lasted nearly two hours and included food and drinks.
The next research participants were the tourists and those who may possibly go out of
their way to visit the café. This group is the recreation group such as bikers, skiers, boaters, and
hikers. Mountain Green is a hub to many great activities and this café would serve the tourists
who are enjoying the outdoors throughout all seasons. Because data was collected during the
winter months, the focus was on those potential customers involved with winter sports – namely
skiing and snowboarding.
This research came from spending an afternoon at the base of the mountain resort, which
allowed me to interview nearly 40 skiers and snowboarders. It was surprising to see some
interesting facts of how many people either look or do not look for food at a restaurant after a
day on the slopes.
Finally, the destination eaters included those in the neighboring cities who will come to
the café not just because it’s on the way to a ski resort or reservoir, but rather because the food,
ambiance or experience is worth it for them to drive a given distance to dine. A brief and telling
survey was created and broadcast to nearly 150 participants who gave plenty of great data to
understand habits, preferences, and expectations of the general public who neither live in
Mountain Green nor are included in the tourist category. This allowed for a large-scale picture of
how locals from other cities view having a restaurant in Mountain Green.
Element 2: Branding
The branding of the café includes the name, logo, color scheme, fonts, design, look and
feel. The logo and name must match well with the culture of Mountain Green and communicate
a message.
I chose the name Aspen Grill because it is an easy name to remember and pronounce.
Aspen trees are native to this area and are trees that spread via the roots and can grow into a large
family which support each other. The vision for this café is that it will act as an Aspen and grow
to surround and support the community as a place for food, celebration, or relaxation.
The colors for the café are earth tones including greens and yellows. The design
incorporates the Aspen tree and its leaves along with a simple font. I have also secured a website
name and social media handles for future café promotion.
Three graphic designers were contracted to design a logo for the cafe. Each designer was
given a basic outline to what the logo should represent. These instructions included information
such as its purpose, that it must incorporate the Aspen tree, and have earthy tones. I also asked
that the tree be placed between the words aspen and grill.
Once the logos were created I surveyed 20 total family and friends to discover what each
logo conveyed to them and to find the logo that fit the café best.
Aspen Grill Focus Group | Mountain Green | 10.9.13
I spent an evening with a resident in Mountain Green who invited eight individuals to join in
a focus group regarding bringing a café to the community. For the setting we used a home in a
10-15 year-old neighborhood in Mountain Green. I used a digital recorder to capture the
comments and later went back to listen to the recording and write down exactly what was said so
as not to miss any information.
I setup chairs in their living room in a circle with plenty of room for people to sit
comfortably. As a means to thank those who participated I provided pizza and drinks. I meant to
keep the meeting to an hour at most, but from the time the first person arrived to when they all
departed I had spent nearly two hours. This was because some came later than others and I lost
them on tangents a few times.
Participants
My local contact found 10 residents, which comprised a diverse group willing to assist in the
focus group. I capped the focus group at 10 to avoid the number being too many and further
distract those whose attention I needed. I didn’t want to go below 10 because I wanted enough
diversity to get many ideas and opinions.
Demographics
Focus group questions and answers:
I selected 11 questions to ask the focus group. My goal wasn’t to get through each question,
but instead guide the direction of the conversations to gather as much information as I could
about bringing a café to Mountain Green. I did not get to each question exactly; however I feel
that they were all answered in one way or another. I came prepared to ask these questions in the
most sensible order that I could imagine, although the conversation did not allow me to follow
this guideline exactly. (See questions in Appendix A)
Below are the answers I received from the focus group participants. This data is important
because it came from leaders and citizens of the community who understand the environment
and culture of Mountain Green and live there day to day without a current café.
Is the local community receptive to a café and why?
There will be construction workers here for the next 20 years, and they are hungry.
Boaters, bikers and hikers are everywhere – lots of bikers, and don’t forget the skiers.
 Two teenagers
 Four males
 Six females
 Average age of resident was 33
 Average time living in Mountain Green
is seven years
 Three residents have other family in
Mountain Green
You will get a lot of local families who have baseball games and soccer games each night of the
week and we need somewhere that we can meet up and eat.
What are some positives to having a café in Mountain Green?
All the teenagers have to go down the canyon or up to Morgan to work. It would be awesome to
get our kids a place to work in Mountain Green. There are no teenage job options in Mountain
Green.
Nobody delivers up here. We need a place to eat that’s close.
What types of food would you like to see served?
I would expect gourmet burgers.
Salads are a must.
You need a pizza, sandwich burger place that can be mobile.
There are a lot of people here who want diversity.
No Chinese.
Definitely soups and salads with a menu to fit the seasons.
Where would the prime location be for a café and why?
Your largest hurdle is getting the land. As close to Trappers Loop as possible.
I wouldn’t go as far east as the fire station if you can help that.
What audience should the café be most tailored to?
Definitely a family-friendly location, but it can’t be a dirty place, it needs to look clean. More
like a Taggerts instead of a Steph’s or a Burger Barn.
You’ll have to consider the tourists too; like the ski, bike, and hike crowds.
Breakfast, lunch or dinner if you had to choose two?
I would never get breakfast here. Lunch and dinner is a must!
You could do a small breakfast menu for the ski traffic.
Compared to other restaurants what do you expect this to be like?
I love a place like Zupas but I hate having to go through the Zupas line.
My favorite place is Café Rio and if it was like that I’d be there every night.
You have to make this a destination restaurant like Taggerts. It’s packed all the time and their
food is not that great. It’s really not good at all.
It would potentially need to be something like a Taggerts where people do go out of their way.
I see this being more like a Snowbasin joint – nicer atmosphere, not like a Burger Barn.
Make sure there is outdoor seating.
Slackwater grill in Ogden is awesome. Something like that has good food, pizzas, and healthy
food too.
Would you like to see the café more than just an eatery and what would that be? E.g. green
space, park, movie nights, reception capabilities, etc…
Love the movie night idea.
I’d like to see it like a place I know in Teton Village in Wyoming where there is a park next to it
where people can get food and eat out there in the park. It’s always packed, even in the shoulder
seasons of fall and spring.
What type of service do you expect? Sit down and served or order and seat yourself?
As far as service we would like to have the option of both someone waiting on you and just to
pick up and go.
I do like to have the option of sit down and not have to pay a tip.
You’d definitely need a conference or reception room and servers for big groups and parties.
Conclusion
Based on the data from the focus group, I see a strong need for a café in this community.
Although, it is only one focus group, I feel that they speak for many in the community who look
forward to something sustainable that can provide the opportunities they want for them and their
families.
I wasn’t surprised by much in the focus group and the remarks I heard reflected my
previous research and thoughts. An audience that I had not taken into account included the
construction workers. Mountain Green is booming with homes and development in the
surrounding area and there are construction workers up there without an option other than a gas
station. With the future development goals of both Mountain Green and neighboring Snowbasin
Resort there will be hungry construction workers within ten minutes of the desired café location
for the next forty years barring economic hurdles.
Aspen Grill Survey Results | Snowbasin | 1.18.14
I spent an afternoon from 11:30am – 1:30pm at Snowbasin Resort surveying skiers and
snowboarders at the base of the mountain between the Needles and John Paul chair lifts where
much of the ski traffic merges. I requested and received access from Snowbasin resort to conduct
the survey.
I surveyed 38 people throughout the two hours – 23 males and 15 females. I used printed
surveys on a clipboard and one sheet per person or group. This allowed me to ask questions and
have organized answers without having to hand something to someone with gloves or other ski
gear getting in the way. The next few pages tell the visual story of the data I gathered: (See
survey and questions in Appendix B)
Gender
Females: 15
Males: 23
Females
Males
Age
The majority of those surveyed were between 31-40 years old, with the lowest participants less
than 20 and above 50 years old.
Residence
Those surveyed came from all over the nation, however the overwhelming majority were from
the Ogden area, which is where I was hoping to get the most responses from. The pie chart below
doesn’t have every city included, just those with the most responses.
0
2
4
6
8
10
12
14
16
<20 21-30 31-40 41-50 51-60
Ogden, UT
Layton, UT
Kaysville, UT
Syracuse, UT
Park City, UT
Roseville, CA
How often do they visit Snowbasin
I inquired from each person how often they visit Snowbasin to ski, snowboard, or recreate. This
response provides data on the flow of traffic up to the resort and how often respondents may pass
the restaurant’s location.
Travel route
This information is very important because it told me that from the small number I surveyed
most of them are driving through Mountain Green to access the resort, which means possibly
more traffic for the restaurant. I found that 29 of the participants drove through Mountain Green
compared to 9 coming from the North passage.
Weekly
Annually
Monthly
Mtn Green
Ogden Canyon
Apres ski dining
The numbers show that not that many people seek out a place to eat after a day on the slopes. I
found that 63 percent rarely (almost never) ate out after skiing compared to the 37 percent who
often (more than half the time) went to a restaurant or fast food location.
Deciding factors whether to eat
This data helps me understand what two components are most important to customers finishing
up their time on the mountain when deciding whether to eat.
Often
Rarely
0
2
4
6
8
10
12
14
16
Food/Location Cost/Food Cost/Location Location/Time Food/Time Cost/Time
Favorite après-ski meal
This data pointed out which foods are most desirable to those enjoying the mountain and what
food they crave after skiing or snowboarding.
Conclusion
After conducting this survey I discovered that tourists and those who recreate close to
Mountain Green do have personal habits and preferences for dining after skiing at the resort. It
confirms a few interesting details for me. One fact is that not everyone stopped to eat after
recreating and most people chose to drive home afterward and find food at their home.
Another interesting fact is that all are very cognizant of their food choices close to the
resort. There are many that stay after skiing and eat at the Snowbasin restaurant because they
know of no other location between the resort and their home.
Some people I interviewed make it a habit to stop by the gas station in Mountain Green to
buy a drink and a quick snack since it’s the only option they have between the resort and the
larger populated city where most live. Apparently the majority of those interviewed expressed
0
2
4
6
8
10
12
14
16
18
20
their desire for comfort, or “greasy food” such as hamburgers, fries, burritos and other grilled or
fried foods after a day on the slopes. My goal for the café is to create gourmet burgers and
Mexican food that can be a healthy option.
The majority of participants were in the 30 – 40 year age range, which also falls in line
with most small-family age groups. This is a group that will look for dining options that are
affordable, family friendly, and not too far out of the way. It’s not surprising to see that food type
and location are two major factors in deciding where to spend their dining dollars.
Aspen Grill Survey Results | General Public
Feb. 22 – Feb. 28, 2014
This survey was the most telling for me about the overall food habits and preferences of
most people. I surveyed nearly 150 people over the space of one week through a link that took
participants to a Google form I created. The form was comprised of 11 questions created to
gather the general public’s dining habits and preferences.
The survey received 146 participants – pretty evenly split between male and female.
There were 69 males to 77 females who took the survey, which was disseminated via email and
social media platforms like Twitter and Facebook.
I first reached out to contacts through personal email and then posted the survey on
Facebook where I updated my request for participants three times throughout the week. I also
asked others to share the link with their friends. I currently have more than 700 Twitter followers
that I broadcast it to and also asked a local Twitter master in the food sector, @slcfoodie, to
retweet it for more participants.
I don’t know the numbers of where the traffic was driven from, but I feel good with the
146 total participants. I feel that I received a good gauge of diverse interests and styles. I
received participation from five countries, 14 states and 63 cities. (Survey questions in Appendix
C)
Gender
Females: 77
Males: 69
Age
Once again, the majority of those surveyed were between 31-40 years old, with the lowest less
than 20 years old.
Male
Female
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
100
<20 21-30 31-40 41-50 51-60 >60
City
Although this doesn’t show all of the cities that participated, it paints a good picture of the habits
locally and how many participated along the Wasatch Front, which will be my main clientele.
0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45
Clearfield, UT
Fruit Heights, UT
Holladay, UT
Queen creek , AZ
Riverton, UT
South Weber, UT
Cottonwood Heights, UT
Magna, UT
Murray, UT
Phoenix, AZ
Midvale, UT
West Jordan, UT
Layton, UT
Ogden, UT
South Jordan, UT
Sandy, UT
Salt Lake City, UT
State
This is a graph to show the other states who participated in this survey. Although this wouldn’t
be my main clientele this is good for me to see out-of-state choices for tourist advertising
options.
Countries
All were from the United States except four which were comprised of Denmark, Germany,
Australia and England.
0
20
40
60
80
100
120
0
20
40
60
80
100
120
140
160
United States Germany Denmark England Australia
Favorite meals at a restaurant
This question meant to find out what people wanted to eat most while going to a restaurant. As is
the case with the Snowbasin survey, this group preferred Mexican and American food above
other options. I used this data to tailor the café menu to both segments.
Favorite meal time
Next I wanted to find out what their favorite meal time was during the day, to help narrow down
hours for the restaurant. Dinner was the most popular followed by lunch and breakfast last.
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
35
40
45
50
Dinner
Lunch
Breakfast
Dining frequency
This data shows how often people dine other than for fast food. This includes chains, just not a
restaurant with a drive thru.
Average spend
This data shows what the average costs are for one person while eating at a restaurant – what
they expect to pay for example.
Few times per week
Few times per month
Once per week
Once per month
Once every few
months
Daily
$11 - $20
$5 - $10
>$20
Travel time to get desired food
This data revealed how far customers may be willing to travel for a worthwhile dining
experience. This tells me if Mountain Green is too far for most people even if they love the food.
What I found out is that the majority of people are OK traveling 20 minutes to find a good meal
and this is great information for this scenario because Mountain Green sits less than 20 minutes
from very high populations, such as Ogden and Layton.
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
10 minutes 15 minutes 20 minutes 30 minutes 1 hour
Deciding factors of where to eat
I wanted to measure the top factors involved in a person’s decision on where to eat like with the
Snowbasin survey and the data shows that food type and cost are most important above other
factors.
Elements of the dining experience
I wanted to find out which optional elements would be most important to the customer. Although
it is a general population survey and not tailored to Mountain Green, the data still represents
those that are willing to drive to the location. Most people wanted a peaceful and quiet
experience and to be waited on.
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
Peace & Quiet
Server
Music
Meeting Space
TV - Sporting Events
Live Bands
Wi-Fi
Bar
Dining ambiance
This scale gives information about the type of dining ambiance most people want to experience.
The family environment captured 50 percent of the responses, while sports bar was the least
popular option.
Conclusion
This survey held the largest number of participants. After reviewing the responses from
these 146 participants I felt confirmed in my efforts to bring a café to Mountain Green as I had
with my previous surveys and focus group activities.
People will travel for good food and a comfortable dining experience. This survey gave
me a glimpse into general preferences like how most people are comfortable with a travel time
close to 20 minutes, that most prefer Mexican or American grill food, and that they want a
family-friendly atmosphere, not a sports-bar scene.
Although this was a broad survey it still gave me vital information that is helpful in
beginning a café in a small town like Mountain Green.
Family
Cafe
Fine dining
Lounge
Sports bar
Literature Review | Branding
Your brand is the first impression and is what can build or destroy the client’s decision to
pursue further any business opportunities. Branding is about messaging and an important piece
of the overall dialogue you have with your clients. “Your marketing messages must capture your
audience’s attention and compel them to action.” (Black, 2013, Mashable.com) Personally I see
the brand of my café as the important piece of a dynamic marketing puzzle that will tell a story
with a glance.
Finding the right branding voice for me is difficult and frustrating. The voice of the cafe
must convey a feeling of comfort, country, relaxation, escape, and food. The brand voice is the
“heart and soul of communications. Once you have an idea of what you’re going for, it can be
helpful to find other brands who have similar voices.” (Honeysett, 2013, Mashable.com)
Some brands I look up to for being fresh and natural, such as Chipotle, even draw
criticism from people for their tactics. “We’re reminded that Chipotle is a ‘giant corporation,’
tugging at our heartstrings with oppressed bovines not because of a genuine interest in
sustainability or animal welfare but to make us buy burritos” (Fishburne, 2013, Alltop.com).
People can spin any story, but this is proof that if you feel strong enough about your cause then
you should tout it no matter the opposing opinions.
As is the case with most business, there is branded content that works and some branded
content that doesn’t work. The type of branded content that would work best with a small-town
café is something I haven’t considered much; however, I do know that the content needs to be
better than the quality, which means that one shouldn’t focus too much time and effort on
quality, just be sure to have worthwhile content available to keep people intrigued. The quality
will come with time. “Branded content frequently lacks strategy, focus, and accountability, three
factors that can hobble the impact of content marketing.” (Fishburne, 2013, Alltop.com)
Marketing is ever-changing and the customer-centric world we live in is increasingly
engaging with social media. When creating a brand that can be marketed “it is important to
‘confront reality,’ adding, ‘Marketers tend to be optimists, but you know, hope is not a
strategy.’” (Elliott, 2013, NYtimes.com) I must be realistic in marketing a café in a new town
and understand that I need a clear strategy; there is a strategy to be had, which will take work,
not just hope.
Managing the café reputation online will be an important aspect to its success. What
people believe is often what is posted on friend’s pages, not what they personally experience.
Kermit Patterson says in a New York Times article that “referrals from happy clients are
traditionally the best source of new business — and online forums are powerful word-of-mouth.”
(Patterson, 2013, NYTimes.com) Obviously I will need customers who have a great experience
to help create a positive online impression. When creating a brand, my online reputation is a very
important step to gaining a root in the community. Worth noting is that the relationship between
customer’s experiences and my online reputation are interchangeable. It can’t be created just by
online marketing or social media without some people having a direct experience in the café.
Tom Kuntz with the New York Times notes that it is often the silly research that can
generate valuable nuggets of information. Silly research provides “hype-rich side dishes, and
they can yield gravy.” (Kuntz, 2013, NYTimes.com) This angle gives me an opportunity to think
of fun and nontraditional methods to conduct research. I haven’t conducted any silly research
with this project, but the article suggests a “huh” and “duh” research tactic. A “huh” hypothesis
would look something like this: Mountain views while eating make people eat more. A “duh”
hypothesis to research would look like this: The more a person eats the fuller they become.
I wanted to know how viable a restaurant business is and what the failure rate looked
like. After reading around I found that there is a 60 percent failure rate; failure in this source is
defined as a restaurant that has closed or been bought out within three years of inception. This
percent may seem high but is in line with other cross-industry startups. “Whether failure rates
overstate or understate the odds, no one disputes the conventional wisdom that making it in the
restaurant industry is no cakewalk.” (Miller, 2007, businessweek.com)
When discovering the proper brand for this café, I have to first understand who I am as a
brand, because my decisions and personal brand will affect the café’s brand. In researching
personal brand I learned that “marketing requires a decision at every turn – from pricing to
distribution to packaging to product taste tests to social media activity” (Joseph, 2013,
Entrepreneur.com). The same holds true for me personally. Any and all of my decisions
communicate messages to customers.
A café in a small town is possibly one of the last things that people would think about
when discussing YouTube video presence. However, making a brand and a message that can be
disseminated through the medium of video-king YouTube is one more way that this small-town
café can become not just a local diner, but a destination eatery. Adweek’s Mike Shields proves
the power generated from viral videos with statistics like GoPro hitting 7.81 million views in a
week, including 187 thousand likes and nearly as many shares (Shields, 2013, Adweek.com)
Having the right brand not only catches the view of hungry passersby, but can help with
your online presence with social media. John Bonini with Social Media Examiner explains the
advantage of Twitter’s new lead generation cards saying “There are 500 million tweets sent
every day. That’s a lot of noise to compete with. Enter Twitter’s lead generation cards” (Bonini,
2013, Socialmediaexaminer.com). When creating a destination café, the right brand and strategy
to reach those within the reach of the restaurant amongst the noise will prove extremely valuable
and we see that there are many tools to achieve that online, if done correctly.
Content marketing is now brand publishing and according to adpulp.com editor David
Burn, “Great content exists to tell a story. For sure, but that story better build the brand and grow
the client’s business, or it’s just more fluff. Or worse, it’s smelly brown stuff stuck to the brand’s
shoe” (Burn, 2013, Adpulp.com). In order for my brand to speak and move client’s to come to
my café, my content is the food and my publishing is sharing that love of the food appropriately.
In creating an influential marketing piece in a brand, one must feel inspired and have a
passion for that creation. I appreciate the tip: “the best inspiration might come simply from
observing whatever happens to be around you – no matter how ordinary.” (Bhargava, 2013,
Rohitbhargava.com) Sometimes the best inspiration to create an inspiring brand is to take in the
surroundings of that brand and simply incorporate it.
Possibly the best move I can make to get my brand recognized within a community is to
be there first in everyone’s mind promoting and engaging with others. “I have to admit that
positioning is a more likely choice to be the true ‘fifth P’ of marketing.” (Bhargava, 2013,
Rohitbhargava.com) What I’ve learned from this is that by positioning my brand of the café by
being first in people’s mind and also by telling a story that connects, the success of public
relations will spread and possibly launch the café into a destination.
Literature Review | Research
The research needed to find answers to make this adventure kick off is of utmost
importance. When planning to start up a café in a small town, adequate questions and methods
will ensure success and confidence. “Studies that produce speedy results but ask the wrong
questions, ask the wrong people, or ask in the wrong way waste resources and time” (O’Hare,
2010, Adage.com). Before launching into this café, my questions must be open-ended and
directed appropriately.
When conducting research there are important questions that can get you vital
information for improving your processes. Christopher Hann from Entrepreneur.com wrote a
short piece with the help of a consultant who noted that “"All good relationships are based on the
other person's priorities," If my research can ask those powerful questions that take me away
from promoting my products and instead focus on the customer’s concerns, it will strengthen my
communication and trust with customers (Hann, 2013, Entrepreneur.com).
Branding | Logo
The logo is an important aspect of the restaurant. It must convey those findings that were
discovered within the three customer segment research tasks. From the data we see that
customers want something that looks clean and simple, yet conveys a family-friendly atmosphere
with healthy and familiar food options.
I took a basic concept of a couple of Aspen trees within the name of the logo. I conveyed
this message with the three contracted graphic designers who I paid to design logos. Each
designer was given the same instructions. The instructions were that the Aspen tree needed to be
an element of the logo, the leaves needed to be part of the name, and I also suggested where
those leaves and trees should be found within the logo. The examples were very similar in
structure, yet the look and feel varied.
Once I had those logos I felt best with personally, I put them in front of 20 family and
friends to solicit their thoughts on the logo and what they felt it conveyed. I did not lead them
into choosing a logo, nor did I alert them to what they were logos for. All understood that it was
for a restaurant when they saw the word “grill” in the logo, but then I asked what each thought of
when looking at the logos. The logo I chose was the logo with the most positive comments that
were in line with the data gathered from the research. (See Appendix D for logos)
Website
My initial intention was to have a site designed with content ready to push live, however
after exceeding my budget of $50 for this project on logo design I decided to create a free
WordPress blog site. This gives a glimpse of a basic site to give information and direction to
those looking to find the café online.
Website: www.aspengrill.wordpress.com
Home
This page will eventually have a sliding gallery of photos including food, location and people
when available.
About
Contact
For the contact page I have included filler information since this café is not functioning yet.
Menu
This page includes a PDF link to the designed menu. When clicking on the menu PDF below it
downloads the full PDF.
THE GOODS
Chili Dog / 5
Bratwurst / 5
Grilled Cheese / 5
Burger / 6
Philly Cheesesteak / 8
Nachos / 8
SALADS
Cobb / 5
Caesar / 5
Wedge / 6
Taco / 7
Asian Chicken / 7
sandwiches
pb & j / 5
Veggie / 5
Egg Salad / 7
Roast Beef / 7
BLT / 7
Turkey Avacado / 7
SIDES
Soda / 1.5
Salsa & Chips / 3
Fries / 3
Soup / 3
Cottage Cheese w/ fruit / 3
Veggie Platter / 3
Chili Cheese Fries / 5
Social Media
Like the website, this effort was to secure the usernames for platforms such as Facebook
and Twitter. I used personal email and logins to create a page and profile on these two social
media platforms.
Facebook | www.facebook.com/aspengrillutah
There is a restaurant in Salt Lake City that does a phenomenal job at communicating with
their audience and customers. The restaurant is Lucky 13 – A Bar and Grill, and they post
pictures of food such as classic menu items or an up-and-coming dish. Lucky 13 connects with
followers and because of that they can send event details and communicate the happenings of the
restaurant to keep customers involved. This is a screen shot of the Lucky 13 Facebook home
page.
Here are a couple of screen shots showing how they use their Facebook page to
communicate with their community. The first one is from March 19, 2014 and is advertising that
it is holding a job fair, who should apply, and how to contact the company. At the bottom of the
page you can see that at the time of the screen shot there were 66 people who liked the post and
some that have commented or shared it with their Facebook friends.
This next screen shot is of one of their posts promoting a creative meal. The photo is of
the burger, fries, and a drink while the text describes in detail the ingredients of the burger. Note
that it also promotes the local baseball team as a draw to bring more people to the restaurant and
build that community of baseball and restaurant fans. This has 63 likes and 8 comments.
Though I don’t have content yet, I was able to secure a Facebook page that can be a
future destination to drive traffic through, promote menu items and communicate with a
customer base.
Twitter | @aspengrillutah
Twitter is another social media platform to communicate with an audience. This will be
used to convey much of the same information as Facebook, but will be more communicative.
This means that the conversations happening on Twitter will include the community such as
local or regional influencers; customers, vendors, schools and resorts. By becoming part of the
conversation on timely and important issues over Twitter the café should be able to establish
itself as a knowledgeable friend and resource to the community, whereas Facebook will be more
of a platform to drive café-centered initiatives and occurrences.
An example of a restaurant that excels with Twitter as a platform to communicate with its
community is Chipotle. Here is a screen shot of their front page on their Twitter feed.
You can see that with 351,000 followers they have an immediate and effective channel
with Twitter to communicate messaging. This next screen shot is an example of a recent post
from a Major League Soccer team on April 16, 2014 communicating with the Chipotle
community with an image of one of their fans wearing a t-shirt signifying Chipotle and their
effort of local, home-grown food.
On a local scale I hope to accomplish the same trust and support from the Aspen Grill
community. Images I can imagine along these lines involves the local sports teams ranging from
little league soccer to high school football. Through sponsorships, well wishes online and
product offerings, the goal is to gain a fan base for Aspen Grill.
Project Conclusion
I feel that a café in the Mountain Green area is a viable option based on the research and
data gathered by this project. It became evident that the community wants a dining option locally
and that the food needed to include American and Mexican grill items along with a family-friendly
atmosphere.
The information gathered allowed me to create and tailor a menu to the voices and
opinions of three important customer segments. There are not many differences between the
three segments such as what a local customer wants compared to a tourist. The one difference I
gathered is that tourists and those recreating may not be as inclined to dine at the restaurant as
the locals are. In the surveys the data shows that most people don’t go directly to the restaurant
after a day of skiing for example. Instead they would rather go to their home or hotel first.
I was able to gauge travel habits of those that live within a 30-minute commute of the
town, including tourists. Among data gathered from these crowds is that most are willing to drive
20 minutes to eat at a desired restaurant. They also gave information as to what the ambiance
should feel and look like.
The café branding is a work in progress and although I feel that the logo chosen for this
project matches well with the identity of the café, I also feel that changes are inevitable and will
be based on further customer surveys and data analysis. This includes color schemes and fonts.
The branding must convey a message to consumers of good food and family-friendly service.
The message and logo will be used throughout the social media and web advertising to gather
and retain a loyal customer base.
References
Bhargava, R. (2013). How to be inspired.
http://www.rohitbhargava.com/2013/10/how-to-be-inspired.
html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+r
ohitbhargava+%28Influential+Marketing%29
Bhargava, R. (2013). How to position a product like Don Draper.
http://www.rohitbhargava.com/2013/08/how-to-position-a-product-like-don-draper.html
Black, L. (2013). Five common brand messaging mistakes by marketers.
http://mashable.com/2013/08/05/branding-mistakes/
Bonini, J. (2013). How to generate Twitter leads with their new lead generation cards.
http://www.socialmediaexaminer.com/twitter-lead-generation-cards/#more-48537
Burn, D. (2013). Brand publishing is the new content marketing.
http://www.adpulp.com/brand-publishing-new-new-content-marketing/?
utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+Ad
pulp+%28AdPulp.com+-+Daily+juice+from+the+Ad+Biz%29
Elliot, S. (2013). Marketers chase evolving consumer.
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/10/07/business/media/marketers-chase-the-rapidly-evolving-
consumer.html?_r=0
Fishburne, T. (2013). Branded content.
http://tomfishburne.com/2013/09/branded-content.
html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+T
omFishburne+%28Tom+Fishburne%3A+Marketoonist%29
Fishburne, T. (2013). Brand purpose.
http://tomfishburne.com/2013/10/brand-purpose.
html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+
TomFishburne+%28Tom+Fishburne%3A+Marketoonist%29
Hann, C. (2013). Three questions you should be asking your client.
http://www.entrepreneur.com/article/228262
Honeysett, A. (2013). Four ways to find your brand’s voice.
http://mashable.com/2013/05/23/find-your-brands-voice/
Joseph, J. (2013). How to be the brand you always wanted to be.
http://www.entrepreneur.com/article/229291
Kuntz, T. (2009). The importance of silly research.
http://ideas.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/11/19/the-importance-of-silly-research/?_r=0
Miller, K. (2007). The Restaurant-Failure Myth.
http://www.businessweek.com/stories/2007-04-16/the-restaurant-failure-mythbusinessweek-
business-news-stock-market-and-financial-advice
O’Hare, C. (2010). Online research: Don’t confuse more with better.
http://adage.com/article/cmo-strategy/online-research-confuse/142811/
Pattison, K. (2009). Managing an online reputation.
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/30/business/smallbusiness/30reputation.html?ref=mark
eting
Shields, M. (2013). Apple lands three spots among top YouTube brand videos.
http://www.adweek.com/videowatch/apple-lands-3-spots-among-top-youtube-brand-videos-
153475
Appendix A
Focus Group Questions | 10.9.13
1. Would the local community be receptive to a café and what are the reasons?
2. What do you feel is positive about a café in Mountain Green?
3. What do you feel is negative about a café in Mountain Green?
4. What types of food should be served?
5. Where would the prime location be for a café in Mountain Green and why?
6. What audience segment should the café be tailored to?
7. What are reasonable hours the café should be open?
8. Paint me a picture of what you envision the café to look and feel like?
9. What fears or frustrations might exist if a café came to Mountain Green?
10. What additional elements would make the café successful in Mountain Green?
Appendix B
Snowbasin Survey | 1.18.14
Gender:
Age:
Current Residence (City, ST):
1. How often do you ski Snowbasin?
 Weekly
 Monthly
 Annually
2. Which route do you travel to access Snowbasin?
 Mountain Green (south)
 Ogden Canyon (north)
3. How often do you stop for food when leaving a resort?
 Often (most of the time)
 Rarely (every now and then)
4. After skiing, which two factors are most important in your dining decision?
 Cost
 Food
 Location
 Time
5. What is your ideal meal after skiing?
Appendix C
Google Survey – General Food Preferences | 10.9.13
1. Gender
 Female
 Male
2. Age
 <15
 16-20
 21-30
 31-40
 41-50
 51-60
 >60
3. City living in currently?
4. How often do you eat at a restaurant?
 Daily
 Once per week
 Few times per week
 Once per month
 Few times per month
 Once every few months
5. Which meal is your favorite when choosing a restaurant?
 Breakfast
 Lunch
 Dinner
6. What is the best estimate to your average spend when eating at a restaurant?
 <$10
 $10 - $20
 >$20
7. What is your favorite food type when eating at a restaurant? (Burgers, Mexican,
Sandwiches, Steaks, Sushi, etc...)
8. How far are you willing to travel for food you crave?
 10 minutes
 15 minutes
 20 minutes
 30 minutes
 1 hour
9. Choose your two most important factors when deciding where to dine.
 Cost
 Food
 Location
 Time
 Service
10. Select aspects you like to enjoy or experience while at a restaurant.
 Wi-Fi
 Music
 Live bands
 TV - sporting events
 Meeting space
 Peace and quiet
 Server
 Bar
11. What ambiance do you most enjoy at a restaurant?
 Sports bar
 Fine dining
 Family
 Lounge
 Cafe
Appendix D
Logos | *Middle Logo Chosen

The author has granted Weber State University Archives a limited, non-exclusive, royalty-free license to reproduce his or her theses, in whole or in part, in electronic or paper form and to make it available to the general public at no charge.The author retains all other rights.

The author has granted Weber State University Archives a limited, non-exclusive, royalty-free license to reproduce his or her theses, in whole or in part, in electronic or paper form and to make it available to the general public at no charge.The author retains all other rights.

Full-Text

Small-Town Café Communication Plan
Prepared by:
Spencer Bjorklund
Project submitted in partial fulfillment of the
requirements for the Master of Professional
Communication program at
Weber State University
April 22, 2014
Small-Town Café Communication Business Plan
MPC Final Project: 2013-2014
This project is a communication business plan for a startup cafe in the small town of
Mountain Green, Utah. The name of the cafe is Aspen Grill and the reason for Mountain Green
to be the host site of the café is because it nestled in a small town 15 minutes from a ski resort
and recreational reservoir as well as 10 minutes up Weber Canyon from one of the largest cities
in Utah; Ogden. Mountain Green currently offers no dining options besides gas-station food and
it is the gateway for a large number of locals and tourists to access Snowbasin Resort.
The unique communication situation is that there is currently no sit-down dining option
in Mountain Green. The goal was to assess through research and data the probability that a café
could thrive in this community. A brand and communication marketing plan was also designed.
The main communication questions this project addresses are:
 What type of communication is needed to determine the café’s potential?
 How do I communicate to customers through visual and electronic channels what this
café can become?
The food industry is saturated and according to a research study, nearly 60 percent of all
restaurants fail within three years – fail means in this article that the restaurant closed or was
purchased by new ownership. The author of this article also noted that although the 60 percent
sounds high, it is on par with cross-industry averages for new business. (Miller, 2007,
businessweek.com)
Mountain Green is unique because it doesn’t have another option for locals to dine. There
is no true competition for a sit-down dining experience. How would I brand the Aspen Grill with
potential customers and keep them returning?
This project consisted of two elements for a business plan of starting a small-town café.
The first element is audience research and data analysis. The second element is the creation of
the café brand, look, and feel. There are many important communication aspects to these two
elements, allowing a better understanding of whom and how to communicate a successful small-town
café scenario.
Following are two elements that helped me communicate my purpose and answer the
questions stated at the beginning. The first element was research and data analysis for customer
preferences and the second element was designing a logo, creating a brand, and an online
presence.
Element 1: Research
I decided to research three different audience segments. One segment involved the local
community and in theory, the most stable of customers. The next segment included tourists and
customers who see the café as a dining destination and are willing to make an effort to eat there.
The last segment was research of the tourists and recreation enthusiasts who utilize Snowbasin
Resort. This group will shed light on the mindset of those who spend the day recreating close to
the café’s potential location.
The local community is the heart of the business. I hope to gain a loyal following of
routine diners from local neighborhoods who love the food and will frequent the café. This group
includes those families who live close to the café – within a 10-mile radius. Mountain Green has
no dining options currently and the radius I’ve chosen to research lies within this town’s borders.
I did not count the cities that are located more than a 10-minute drive from Mountain Green.
A focus group was conducted with 10 local community neighbors ranging from 15 to 43
years old. Focus group protocol was established with ground rules, having them fill out a short
survey, and gathering demographic information. An ice-breaker was held to get to know
everyone and questions were open-ended and non-leading to gauge response and feelings from
this group. The focus group activity lasted nearly two hours and included food and drinks.
The next research participants were the tourists and those who may possibly go out of
their way to visit the café. This group is the recreation group such as bikers, skiers, boaters, and
hikers. Mountain Green is a hub to many great activities and this café would serve the tourists
who are enjoying the outdoors throughout all seasons. Because data was collected during the
winter months, the focus was on those potential customers involved with winter sports – namely
skiing and snowboarding.
This research came from spending an afternoon at the base of the mountain resort, which
allowed me to interview nearly 40 skiers and snowboarders. It was surprising to see some
interesting facts of how many people either look or do not look for food at a restaurant after a
day on the slopes.
Finally, the destination eaters included those in the neighboring cities who will come to
the café not just because it’s on the way to a ski resort or reservoir, but rather because the food,
ambiance or experience is worth it for them to drive a given distance to dine. A brief and telling
survey was created and broadcast to nearly 150 participants who gave plenty of great data to
understand habits, preferences, and expectations of the general public who neither live in
Mountain Green nor are included in the tourist category. This allowed for a large-scale picture of
how locals from other cities view having a restaurant in Mountain Green.
Element 2: Branding
The branding of the café includes the name, logo, color scheme, fonts, design, look and
feel. The logo and name must match well with the culture of Mountain Green and communicate
a message.
I chose the name Aspen Grill because it is an easy name to remember and pronounce.
Aspen trees are native to this area and are trees that spread via the roots and can grow into a large
family which support each other. The vision for this café is that it will act as an Aspen and grow
to surround and support the community as a place for food, celebration, or relaxation.
The colors for the café are earth tones including greens and yellows. The design
incorporates the Aspen tree and its leaves along with a simple font. I have also secured a website
name and social media handles for future café promotion.
Three graphic designers were contracted to design a logo for the cafe. Each designer was
given a basic outline to what the logo should represent. These instructions included information
such as its purpose, that it must incorporate the Aspen tree, and have earthy tones. I also asked
that the tree be placed between the words aspen and grill.
Once the logos were created I surveyed 20 total family and friends to discover what each
logo conveyed to them and to find the logo that fit the café best.
Aspen Grill Focus Group | Mountain Green | 10.9.13
I spent an evening with a resident in Mountain Green who invited eight individuals to join in
a focus group regarding bringing a café to the community. For the setting we used a home in a
10-15 year-old neighborhood in Mountain Green. I used a digital recorder to capture the
comments and later went back to listen to the recording and write down exactly what was said so
as not to miss any information.
I setup chairs in their living room in a circle with plenty of room for people to sit
comfortably. As a means to thank those who participated I provided pizza and drinks. I meant to
keep the meeting to an hour at most, but from the time the first person arrived to when they all
departed I had spent nearly two hours. This was because some came later than others and I lost
them on tangents a few times.
Participants
My local contact found 10 residents, which comprised a diverse group willing to assist in the
focus group. I capped the focus group at 10 to avoid the number being too many and further
distract those whose attention I needed. I didn’t want to go below 10 because I wanted enough
diversity to get many ideas and opinions.
Demographics
Focus group questions and answers:
I selected 11 questions to ask the focus group. My goal wasn’t to get through each question,
but instead guide the direction of the conversations to gather as much information as I could
about bringing a café to Mountain Green. I did not get to each question exactly; however I feel
that they were all answered in one way or another. I came prepared to ask these questions in the
most sensible order that I could imagine, although the conversation did not allow me to follow
this guideline exactly. (See questions in Appendix A)
Below are the answers I received from the focus group participants. This data is important
because it came from leaders and citizens of the community who understand the environment
and culture of Mountain Green and live there day to day without a current café.
Is the local community receptive to a café and why?
There will be construction workers here for the next 20 years, and they are hungry.
Boaters, bikers and hikers are everywhere – lots of bikers, and don’t forget the skiers.
 Two teenagers
 Four males
 Six females
 Average age of resident was 33
 Average time living in Mountain Green
is seven years
 Three residents have other family in
Mountain Green
You will get a lot of local families who have baseball games and soccer games each night of the
week and we need somewhere that we can meet up and eat.
What are some positives to having a café in Mountain Green?
All the teenagers have to go down the canyon or up to Morgan to work. It would be awesome to
get our kids a place to work in Mountain Green. There are no teenage job options in Mountain
Green.
Nobody delivers up here. We need a place to eat that’s close.
What types of food would you like to see served?
I would expect gourmet burgers.
Salads are a must.
You need a pizza, sandwich burger place that can be mobile.
There are a lot of people here who want diversity.
No Chinese.
Definitely soups and salads with a menu to fit the seasons.
Where would the prime location be for a café and why?
Your largest hurdle is getting the land. As close to Trappers Loop as possible.
I wouldn’t go as far east as the fire station if you can help that.
What audience should the café be most tailored to?
Definitely a family-friendly location, but it can’t be a dirty place, it needs to look clean. More
like a Taggerts instead of a Steph’s or a Burger Barn.
You’ll have to consider the tourists too; like the ski, bike, and hike crowds.
Breakfast, lunch or dinner if you had to choose two?
I would never get breakfast here. Lunch and dinner is a must!
You could do a small breakfast menu for the ski traffic.
Compared to other restaurants what do you expect this to be like?
I love a place like Zupas but I hate having to go through the Zupas line.
My favorite place is Café Rio and if it was like that I’d be there every night.
You have to make this a destination restaurant like Taggerts. It’s packed all the time and their
food is not that great. It’s really not good at all.
It would potentially need to be something like a Taggerts where people do go out of their way.
I see this being more like a Snowbasin joint – nicer atmosphere, not like a Burger Barn.
Make sure there is outdoor seating.
Slackwater grill in Ogden is awesome. Something like that has good food, pizzas, and healthy
food too.
Would you like to see the café more than just an eatery and what would that be? E.g. green
space, park, movie nights, reception capabilities, etc…
Love the movie night idea.
I’d like to see it like a place I know in Teton Village in Wyoming where there is a park next to it
where people can get food and eat out there in the park. It’s always packed, even in the shoulder
seasons of fall and spring.
What type of service do you expect? Sit down and served or order and seat yourself?
As far as service we would like to have the option of both someone waiting on you and just to
pick up and go.
I do like to have the option of sit down and not have to pay a tip.
You’d definitely need a conference or reception room and servers for big groups and parties.
Conclusion
Based on the data from the focus group, I see a strong need for a café in this community.
Although, it is only one focus group, I feel that they speak for many in the community who look
forward to something sustainable that can provide the opportunities they want for them and their
families.
I wasn’t surprised by much in the focus group and the remarks I heard reflected my
previous research and thoughts. An audience that I had not taken into account included the
construction workers. Mountain Green is booming with homes and development in the
surrounding area and there are construction workers up there without an option other than a gas
station. With the future development goals of both Mountain Green and neighboring Snowbasin
Resort there will be hungry construction workers within ten minutes of the desired café location
for the next forty years barring economic hurdles.
Aspen Grill Survey Results | Snowbasin | 1.18.14
I spent an afternoon from 11:30am – 1:30pm at Snowbasin Resort surveying skiers and
snowboarders at the base of the mountain between the Needles and John Paul chair lifts where
much of the ski traffic merges. I requested and received access from Snowbasin resort to conduct
the survey.
I surveyed 38 people throughout the two hours – 23 males and 15 females. I used printed
surveys on a clipboard and one sheet per person or group. This allowed me to ask questions and
have organized answers without having to hand something to someone with gloves or other ski
gear getting in the way. The next few pages tell the visual story of the data I gathered: (See
survey and questions in Appendix B)
Gender
Females: 15
Males: 23
Females
Males
Age
The majority of those surveyed were between 31-40 years old, with the lowest participants less
than 20 and above 50 years old.
Residence
Those surveyed came from all over the nation, however the overwhelming majority were from
the Ogden area, which is where I was hoping to get the most responses from. The pie chart below
doesn’t have every city included, just those with the most responses.
0
2
4
6
8
10
12
14
16
<20 21-30 31-40 41-50 51-60
Ogden, UT
Layton, UT
Kaysville, UT
Syracuse, UT
Park City, UT
Roseville, CA
How often do they visit Snowbasin
I inquired from each person how often they visit Snowbasin to ski, snowboard, or recreate. This
response provides data on the flow of traffic up to the resort and how often respondents may pass
the restaurant’s location.
Travel route
This information is very important because it told me that from the small number I surveyed
most of them are driving through Mountain Green to access the resort, which means possibly
more traffic for the restaurant. I found that 29 of the participants drove through Mountain Green
compared to 9 coming from the North passage.
Weekly
Annually
Monthly
Mtn Green
Ogden Canyon
Apres ski dining
The numbers show that not that many people seek out a place to eat after a day on the slopes. I
found that 63 percent rarely (almost never) ate out after skiing compared to the 37 percent who
often (more than half the time) went to a restaurant or fast food location.
Deciding factors whether to eat
This data helps me understand what two components are most important to customers finishing
up their time on the mountain when deciding whether to eat.
Often
Rarely
0
2
4
6
8
10
12
14
16
Food/Location Cost/Food Cost/Location Location/Time Food/Time Cost/Time
Favorite après-ski meal
This data pointed out which foods are most desirable to those enjoying the mountain and what
food they crave after skiing or snowboarding.
Conclusion
After conducting this survey I discovered that tourists and those who recreate close to
Mountain Green do have personal habits and preferences for dining after skiing at the resort. It
confirms a few interesting details for me. One fact is that not everyone stopped to eat after
recreating and most people chose to drive home afterward and find food at their home.
Another interesting fact is that all are very cognizant of their food choices close to the
resort. There are many that stay after skiing and eat at the Snowbasin restaurant because they
know of no other location between the resort and their home.
Some people I interviewed make it a habit to stop by the gas station in Mountain Green to
buy a drink and a quick snack since it’s the only option they have between the resort and the
larger populated city where most live. Apparently the majority of those interviewed expressed
0
2
4
6
8
10
12
14
16
18
20
their desire for comfort, or “greasy food” such as hamburgers, fries, burritos and other grilled or
fried foods after a day on the slopes. My goal for the café is to create gourmet burgers and
Mexican food that can be a healthy option.
The majority of participants were in the 30 – 40 year age range, which also falls in line
with most small-family age groups. This is a group that will look for dining options that are
affordable, family friendly, and not too far out of the way. It’s not surprising to see that food type
and location are two major factors in deciding where to spend their dining dollars.
Aspen Grill Survey Results | General Public
Feb. 22 – Feb. 28, 2014
This survey was the most telling for me about the overall food habits and preferences of
most people. I surveyed nearly 150 people over the space of one week through a link that took
participants to a Google form I created. The form was comprised of 11 questions created to
gather the general public’s dining habits and preferences.
The survey received 146 participants – pretty evenly split between male and female.
There were 69 males to 77 females who took the survey, which was disseminated via email and
social media platforms like Twitter and Facebook.
I first reached out to contacts through personal email and then posted the survey on
Facebook where I updated my request for participants three times throughout the week. I also
asked others to share the link with their friends. I currently have more than 700 Twitter followers
that I broadcast it to and also asked a local Twitter master in the food sector, @slcfoodie, to
retweet it for more participants.
I don’t know the numbers of where the traffic was driven from, but I feel good with the
146 total participants. I feel that I received a good gauge of diverse interests and styles. I
received participation from five countries, 14 states and 63 cities. (Survey questions in Appendix
C)
Gender
Females: 77
Males: 69
Age
Once again, the majority of those surveyed were between 31-40 years old, with the lowest less
than 20 years old.
Male
Female
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
100
<20 21-30 31-40 41-50 51-60 >60
City
Although this doesn’t show all of the cities that participated, it paints a good picture of the habits
locally and how many participated along the Wasatch Front, which will be my main clientele.
0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45
Clearfield, UT
Fruit Heights, UT
Holladay, UT
Queen creek , AZ
Riverton, UT
South Weber, UT
Cottonwood Heights, UT
Magna, UT
Murray, UT
Phoenix, AZ
Midvale, UT
West Jordan, UT
Layton, UT
Ogden, UT
South Jordan, UT
Sandy, UT
Salt Lake City, UT
State
This is a graph to show the other states who participated in this survey. Although this wouldn’t
be my main clientele this is good for me to see out-of-state choices for tourist advertising
options.
Countries
All were from the United States except four which were comprised of Denmark, Germany,
Australia and England.
0
20
40
60
80
100
120
0
20
40
60
80
100
120
140
160
United States Germany Denmark England Australia
Favorite meals at a restaurant
This question meant to find out what people wanted to eat most while going to a restaurant. As is
the case with the Snowbasin survey, this group preferred Mexican and American food above
other options. I used this data to tailor the café menu to both segments.
Favorite meal time
Next I wanted to find out what their favorite meal time was during the day, to help narrow down
hours for the restaurant. Dinner was the most popular followed by lunch and breakfast last.
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
35
40
45
50
Dinner
Lunch
Breakfast
Dining frequency
This data shows how often people dine other than for fast food. This includes chains, just not a
restaurant with a drive thru.
Average spend
This data shows what the average costs are for one person while eating at a restaurant – what
they expect to pay for example.
Few times per week
Few times per month
Once per week
Once per month
Once every few
months
Daily
$11 - $20
$5 - $10
>$20
Travel time to get desired food
This data revealed how far customers may be willing to travel for a worthwhile dining
experience. This tells me if Mountain Green is too far for most people even if they love the food.
What I found out is that the majority of people are OK traveling 20 minutes to find a good meal
and this is great information for this scenario because Mountain Green sits less than 20 minutes
from very high populations, such as Ogden and Layton.
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
10 minutes 15 minutes 20 minutes 30 minutes 1 hour
Deciding factors of where to eat
I wanted to measure the top factors involved in a person’s decision on where to eat like with the
Snowbasin survey and the data shows that food type and cost are most important above other
factors.
Elements of the dining experience
I wanted to find out which optional elements would be most important to the customer. Although
it is a general population survey and not tailored to Mountain Green, the data still represents
those that are willing to drive to the location. Most people wanted a peaceful and quiet
experience and to be waited on.
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
Peace & Quiet
Server
Music
Meeting Space
TV - Sporting Events
Live Bands
Wi-Fi
Bar
Dining ambiance
This scale gives information about the type of dining ambiance most people want to experience.
The family environment captured 50 percent of the responses, while sports bar was the least
popular option.
Conclusion
This survey held the largest number of participants. After reviewing the responses from
these 146 participants I felt confirmed in my efforts to bring a café to Mountain Green as I had
with my previous surveys and focus group activities.
People will travel for good food and a comfortable dining experience. This survey gave
me a glimpse into general preferences like how most people are comfortable with a travel time
close to 20 minutes, that most prefer Mexican or American grill food, and that they want a
family-friendly atmosphere, not a sports-bar scene.
Although this was a broad survey it still gave me vital information that is helpful in
beginning a café in a small town like Mountain Green.
Family
Cafe
Fine dining
Lounge
Sports bar
Literature Review | Branding
Your brand is the first impression and is what can build or destroy the client’s decision to
pursue further any business opportunities. Branding is about messaging and an important piece
of the overall dialogue you have with your clients. “Your marketing messages must capture your
audience’s attention and compel them to action.” (Black, 2013, Mashable.com) Personally I see
the brand of my café as the important piece of a dynamic marketing puzzle that will tell a story
with a glance.
Finding the right branding voice for me is difficult and frustrating. The voice of the cafe
must convey a feeling of comfort, country, relaxation, escape, and food. The brand voice is the
“heart and soul of communications. Once you have an idea of what you’re going for, it can be
helpful to find other brands who have similar voices.” (Honeysett, 2013, Mashable.com)
Some brands I look up to for being fresh and natural, such as Chipotle, even draw
criticism from people for their tactics. “We’re reminded that Chipotle is a ‘giant corporation,’
tugging at our heartstrings with oppressed bovines not because of a genuine interest in
sustainability or animal welfare but to make us buy burritos” (Fishburne, 2013, Alltop.com).
People can spin any story, but this is proof that if you feel strong enough about your cause then
you should tout it no matter the opposing opinions.
As is the case with most business, there is branded content that works and some branded
content that doesn’t work. The type of branded content that would work best with a small-town
café is something I haven’t considered much; however, I do know that the content needs to be
better than the quality, which means that one shouldn’t focus too much time and effort on
quality, just be sure to have worthwhile content available to keep people intrigued. The quality
will come with time. “Branded content frequently lacks strategy, focus, and accountability, three
factors that can hobble the impact of content marketing.” (Fishburne, 2013, Alltop.com)
Marketing is ever-changing and the customer-centric world we live in is increasingly
engaging with social media. When creating a brand that can be marketed “it is important to
‘confront reality,’ adding, ‘Marketers tend to be optimists, but you know, hope is not a
strategy.’” (Elliott, 2013, NYtimes.com) I must be realistic in marketing a café in a new town
and understand that I need a clear strategy; there is a strategy to be had, which will take work,
not just hope.
Managing the café reputation online will be an important aspect to its success. What
people believe is often what is posted on friend’s pages, not what they personally experience.
Kermit Patterson says in a New York Times article that “referrals from happy clients are
traditionally the best source of new business — and online forums are powerful word-of-mouth.”
(Patterson, 2013, NYTimes.com) Obviously I will need customers who have a great experience
to help create a positive online impression. When creating a brand, my online reputation is a very
important step to gaining a root in the community. Worth noting is that the relationship between
customer’s experiences and my online reputation are interchangeable. It can’t be created just by
online marketing or social media without some people having a direct experience in the café.
Tom Kuntz with the New York Times notes that it is often the silly research that can
generate valuable nuggets of information. Silly research provides “hype-rich side dishes, and
they can yield gravy.” (Kuntz, 2013, NYTimes.com) This angle gives me an opportunity to think
of fun and nontraditional methods to conduct research. I haven’t conducted any silly research
with this project, but the article suggests a “huh” and “duh” research tactic. A “huh” hypothesis
would look something like this: Mountain views while eating make people eat more. A “duh”
hypothesis to research would look like this: The more a person eats the fuller they become.
I wanted to know how viable a restaurant business is and what the failure rate looked
like. After reading around I found that there is a 60 percent failure rate; failure in this source is
defined as a restaurant that has closed or been bought out within three years of inception. This
percent may seem high but is in line with other cross-industry startups. “Whether failure rates
overstate or understate the odds, no one disputes the conventional wisdom that making it in the
restaurant industry is no cakewalk.” (Miller, 2007, businessweek.com)
When discovering the proper brand for this café, I have to first understand who I am as a
brand, because my decisions and personal brand will affect the café’s brand. In researching
personal brand I learned that “marketing requires a decision at every turn – from pricing to
distribution to packaging to product taste tests to social media activity” (Joseph, 2013,
Entrepreneur.com). The same holds true for me personally. Any and all of my decisions
communicate messages to customers.
A café in a small town is possibly one of the last things that people would think about
when discussing YouTube video presence. However, making a brand and a message that can be
disseminated through the medium of video-king YouTube is one more way that this small-town
café can become not just a local diner, but a destination eatery. Adweek’s Mike Shields proves
the power generated from viral videos with statistics like GoPro hitting 7.81 million views in a
week, including 187 thousand likes and nearly as many shares (Shields, 2013, Adweek.com)
Having the right brand not only catches the view of hungry passersby, but can help with
your online presence with social media. John Bonini with Social Media Examiner explains the
advantage of Twitter’s new lead generation cards saying “There are 500 million tweets sent
every day. That’s a lot of noise to compete with. Enter Twitter’s lead generation cards” (Bonini,
2013, Socialmediaexaminer.com). When creating a destination café, the right brand and strategy
to reach those within the reach of the restaurant amongst the noise will prove extremely valuable
and we see that there are many tools to achieve that online, if done correctly.
Content marketing is now brand publishing and according to adpulp.com editor David
Burn, “Great content exists to tell a story. For sure, but that story better build the brand and grow
the client’s business, or it’s just more fluff. Or worse, it’s smelly brown stuff stuck to the brand’s
shoe” (Burn, 2013, Adpulp.com). In order for my brand to speak and move client’s to come to
my café, my content is the food and my publishing is sharing that love of the food appropriately.
In creating an influential marketing piece in a brand, one must feel inspired and have a
passion for that creation. I appreciate the tip: “the best inspiration might come simply from
observing whatever happens to be around you – no matter how ordinary.” (Bhargava, 2013,
Rohitbhargava.com) Sometimes the best inspiration to create an inspiring brand is to take in the
surroundings of that brand and simply incorporate it.
Possibly the best move I can make to get my brand recognized within a community is to
be there first in everyone’s mind promoting and engaging with others. “I have to admit that
positioning is a more likely choice to be the true ‘fifth P’ of marketing.” (Bhargava, 2013,
Rohitbhargava.com) What I’ve learned from this is that by positioning my brand of the café by
being first in people’s mind and also by telling a story that connects, the success of public
relations will spread and possibly launch the café into a destination.
Literature Review | Research
The research needed to find answers to make this adventure kick off is of utmost
importance. When planning to start up a café in a small town, adequate questions and methods
will ensure success and confidence. “Studies that produce speedy results but ask the wrong
questions, ask the wrong people, or ask in the wrong way waste resources and time” (O’Hare,
2010, Adage.com). Before launching into this café, my questions must be open-ended and
directed appropriately.
When conducting research there are important questions that can get you vital
information for improving your processes. Christopher Hann from Entrepreneur.com wrote a
short piece with the help of a consultant who noted that “"All good relationships are based on the
other person's priorities," If my research can ask those powerful questions that take me away
from promoting my products and instead focus on the customer’s concerns, it will strengthen my
communication and trust with customers (Hann, 2013, Entrepreneur.com).
Branding | Logo
The logo is an important aspect of the restaurant. It must convey those findings that were
discovered within the three customer segment research tasks. From the data we see that
customers want something that looks clean and simple, yet conveys a family-friendly atmosphere
with healthy and familiar food options.
I took a basic concept of a couple of Aspen trees within the name of the logo. I conveyed
this message with the three contracted graphic designers who I paid to design logos. Each
designer was given the same instructions. The instructions were that the Aspen tree needed to be
an element of the logo, the leaves needed to be part of the name, and I also suggested where
those leaves and trees should be found within the logo. The examples were very similar in
structure, yet the look and feel varied.
Once I had those logos I felt best with personally, I put them in front of 20 family and
friends to solicit their thoughts on the logo and what they felt it conveyed. I did not lead them
into choosing a logo, nor did I alert them to what they were logos for. All understood that it was
for a restaurant when they saw the word “grill” in the logo, but then I asked what each thought of
when looking at the logos. The logo I chose was the logo with the most positive comments that
were in line with the data gathered from the research. (See Appendix D for logos)
Website
My initial intention was to have a site designed with content ready to push live, however
after exceeding my budget of $50 for this project on logo design I decided to create a free
WordPress blog site. This gives a glimpse of a basic site to give information and direction to
those looking to find the café online.
Website: www.aspengrill.wordpress.com
Home
This page will eventually have a sliding gallery of photos including food, location and people
when available.
About
Contact
For the contact page I have included filler information since this café is not functioning yet.
Menu
This page includes a PDF link to the designed menu. When clicking on the menu PDF below it
downloads the full PDF.
THE GOODS
Chili Dog / 5
Bratwurst / 5
Grilled Cheese / 5
Burger / 6
Philly Cheesesteak / 8
Nachos / 8
SALADS
Cobb / 5
Caesar / 5
Wedge / 6
Taco / 7
Asian Chicken / 7
sandwiches
pb & j / 5
Veggie / 5
Egg Salad / 7
Roast Beef / 7
BLT / 7
Turkey Avacado / 7
SIDES
Soda / 1.5
Salsa & Chips / 3
Fries / 3
Soup / 3
Cottage Cheese w/ fruit / 3
Veggie Platter / 3
Chili Cheese Fries / 5
Social Media
Like the website, this effort was to secure the usernames for platforms such as Facebook
and Twitter. I used personal email and logins to create a page and profile on these two social
media platforms.
Facebook | www.facebook.com/aspengrillutah
There is a restaurant in Salt Lake City that does a phenomenal job at communicating with
their audience and customers. The restaurant is Lucky 13 – A Bar and Grill, and they post
pictures of food such as classic menu items or an up-and-coming dish. Lucky 13 connects with
followers and because of that they can send event details and communicate the happenings of the
restaurant to keep customers involved. This is a screen shot of the Lucky 13 Facebook home
page.
Here are a couple of screen shots showing how they use their Facebook page to
communicate with their community. The first one is from March 19, 2014 and is advertising that
it is holding a job fair, who should apply, and how to contact the company. At the bottom of the
page you can see that at the time of the screen shot there were 66 people who liked the post and
some that have commented or shared it with their Facebook friends.
This next screen shot is of one of their posts promoting a creative meal. The photo is of
the burger, fries, and a drink while the text describes in detail the ingredients of the burger. Note
that it also promotes the local baseball team as a draw to bring more people to the restaurant and
build that community of baseball and restaurant fans. This has 63 likes and 8 comments.
Though I don’t have content yet, I was able to secure a Facebook page that can be a
future destination to drive traffic through, promote menu items and communicate with a
customer base.
Twitter | @aspengrillutah
Twitter is another social media platform to communicate with an audience. This will be
used to convey much of the same information as Facebook, but will be more communicative.
This means that the conversations happening on Twitter will include the community such as
local or regional influencers; customers, vendors, schools and resorts. By becoming part of the
conversation on timely and important issues over Twitter the café should be able to establish
itself as a knowledgeable friend and resource to the community, whereas Facebook will be more
of a platform to drive café-centered initiatives and occurrences.
An example of a restaurant that excels with Twitter as a platform to communicate with its
community is Chipotle. Here is a screen shot of their front page on their Twitter feed.
You can see that with 351,000 followers they have an immediate and effective channel
with Twitter to communicate messaging. This next screen shot is an example of a recent post
from a Major League Soccer team on April 16, 2014 communicating with the Chipotle
community with an image of one of their fans wearing a t-shirt signifying Chipotle and their
effort of local, home-grown food.
On a local scale I hope to accomplish the same trust and support from the Aspen Grill
community. Images I can imagine along these lines involves the local sports teams ranging from
little league soccer to high school football. Through sponsorships, well wishes online and
product offerings, the goal is to gain a fan base for Aspen Grill.
Project Conclusion
I feel that a café in the Mountain Green area is a viable option based on the research and
data gathered by this project. It became evident that the community wants a dining option locally
and that the food needed to include American and Mexican grill items along with a family-friendly
atmosphere.
The information gathered allowed me to create and tailor a menu to the voices and
opinions of three important customer segments. There are not many differences between the
three segments such as what a local customer wants compared to a tourist. The one difference I
gathered is that tourists and those recreating may not be as inclined to dine at the restaurant as
the locals are. In the surveys the data shows that most people don’t go directly to the restaurant
after a day of skiing for example. Instead they would rather go to their home or hotel first.
I was able to gauge travel habits of those that live within a 30-minute commute of the
town, including tourists. Among data gathered from these crowds is that most are willing to drive
20 minutes to eat at a desired restaurant. They also gave information as to what the ambiance
should feel and look like.
The café branding is a work in progress and although I feel that the logo chosen for this
project matches well with the identity of the café, I also feel that changes are inevitable and will
be based on further customer surveys and data analysis. This includes color schemes and fonts.
The branding must convey a message to consumers of good food and family-friendly service.
The message and logo will be used throughout the social media and web advertising to gather
and retain a loyal customer base.
References
Bhargava, R. (2013). How to be inspired.
http://www.rohitbhargava.com/2013/10/how-to-be-inspired.
html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+r
ohitbhargava+%28Influential+Marketing%29
Bhargava, R. (2013). How to position a product like Don Draper.
http://www.rohitbhargava.com/2013/08/how-to-position-a-product-like-don-draper.html
Black, L. (2013). Five common brand messaging mistakes by marketers.
http://mashable.com/2013/08/05/branding-mistakes/
Bonini, J. (2013). How to generate Twitter leads with their new lead generation cards.
http://www.socialmediaexaminer.com/twitter-lead-generation-cards/#more-48537
Burn, D. (2013). Brand publishing is the new content marketing.
http://www.adpulp.com/brand-publishing-new-new-content-marketing/?
utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+Ad
pulp+%28AdPulp.com+-+Daily+juice+from+the+Ad+Biz%29
Elliot, S. (2013). Marketers chase evolving consumer.
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/10/07/business/media/marketers-chase-the-rapidly-evolving-
consumer.html?_r=0
Fishburne, T. (2013). Branded content.
http://tomfishburne.com/2013/09/branded-content.
html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+T
omFishburne+%28Tom+Fishburne%3A+Marketoonist%29
Fishburne, T. (2013). Brand purpose.
http://tomfishburne.com/2013/10/brand-purpose.
html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+
TomFishburne+%28Tom+Fishburne%3A+Marketoonist%29
Hann, C. (2013). Three questions you should be asking your client.
http://www.entrepreneur.com/article/228262
Honeysett, A. (2013). Four ways to find your brand’s voice.
http://mashable.com/2013/05/23/find-your-brands-voice/
Joseph, J. (2013). How to be the brand you always wanted to be.
http://www.entrepreneur.com/article/229291
Kuntz, T. (2009). The importance of silly research.
http://ideas.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/11/19/the-importance-of-silly-research/?_r=0
Miller, K. (2007). The Restaurant-Failure Myth.
http://www.businessweek.com/stories/2007-04-16/the-restaurant-failure-mythbusinessweek-
business-news-stock-market-and-financial-advice
O’Hare, C. (2010). Online research: Don’t confuse more with better.
http://adage.com/article/cmo-strategy/online-research-confuse/142811/
Pattison, K. (2009). Managing an online reputation.
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/30/business/smallbusiness/30reputation.html?ref=mark
eting
Shields, M. (2013). Apple lands three spots among top YouTube brand videos.
http://www.adweek.com/videowatch/apple-lands-3-spots-among-top-youtube-brand-videos-
153475
Appendix A
Focus Group Questions | 10.9.13
1. Would the local community be receptive to a café and what are the reasons?
2. What do you feel is positive about a café in Mountain Green?
3. What do you feel is negative about a café in Mountain Green?
4. What types of food should be served?
5. Where would the prime location be for a café in Mountain Green and why?
6. What audience segment should the café be tailored to?
7. What are reasonable hours the café should be open?
8. Paint me a picture of what you envision the café to look and feel like?
9. What fears or frustrations might exist if a café came to Mountain Green?
10. What additional elements would make the café successful in Mountain Green?
Appendix B
Snowbasin Survey | 1.18.14
Gender:
Age:
Current Residence (City, ST):
1. How often do you ski Snowbasin?
 Weekly
 Monthly
 Annually
2. Which route do you travel to access Snowbasin?
 Mountain Green (south)
 Ogden Canyon (north)
3. How often do you stop for food when leaving a resort?
 Often (most of the time)
 Rarely (every now and then)
4. After skiing, which two factors are most important in your dining decision?
 Cost
 Food
 Location
 Time
5. What is your ideal meal after skiing?
Appendix C
Google Survey – General Food Preferences | 10.9.13
1. Gender
 Female
 Male
2. Age
 <15
 16-20
 21-30
 31-40
 41-50
 51-60
 >60
3. City living in currently?
4. How often do you eat at a restaurant?
 Daily
 Once per week
 Few times per week
 Once per month
 Few times per month
 Once every few months
5. Which meal is your favorite when choosing a restaurant?
 Breakfast
 Lunch
 Dinner
6. What is the best estimate to your average spend when eating at a restaurant?
 $20
7. What is your favorite food type when eating at a restaurant? (Burgers, Mexican,
Sandwiches, Steaks, Sushi, etc...)
8. How far are you willing to travel for food you crave?
 10 minutes
 15 minutes
 20 minutes
 30 minutes
 1 hour
9. Choose your two most important factors when deciding where to dine.
 Cost
 Food
 Location
 Time
 Service
10. Select aspects you like to enjoy or experience while at a restaurant.
 Wi-Fi
 Music
 Live bands
 TV - sporting events
 Meeting space
 Peace and quiet
 Server
 Bar
11. What ambiance do you most enjoy at a restaurant?
 Sports bar
 Fine dining
 Family
 Lounge
 Cafe
Appendix D
Logos | *Middle Logo Chosen